This year we stayed home and hung out at our house for 4th of July. I didn’t want to make a big production of it like we did for Little Brother’s birthday party, but I still wanted the day to be special. So I planned a few little activities to do around the house, and we had a few people over to just hang out and relax.
My favorite activity of the day was making these cute DIY flag t-shirts. I found the idea at the last minute the day before 4th of July, but we were able to whip them together easily on Independence Day morning after breakfast.
Supplies:
T-shirts
Masking tape
Fabric paint
Paint brushes or sponges
Star paper punch or star stickers
I prepped our t-shirts the night before by taping off the star area and as much of the stripes as I could. I then made stars from the masking tape with my star paper punch. I think star stickers would work great too.
After breakfast, I had the boys paint the blue section of their shirts. Then while the paint dried, I got dressed, and they watched some cartoons.
Once the blue paint dried, I removed the tape along the edges of the blue section (I left the star tape in place for now). I then place tape over the edges of the blue area to keep the red paint off the blue. I also needed to add a little tape to my stripes so it would reach all the way to the edge of the blue.
Then the boys painted their red stripes.
Once they were done painting, I let the paint dry for just a few minutes before I removed the tape. Once the tape was removed, I hung the shirts up outside to finish drying. It was nice and warm, so it didn’t take long at all for them to dry.
A few tips:
I let the tape go over the edge of the t-shirts to hold them in place on the table. I think this was helpful, so the boys couldn’t accidentally slide the shirts around while painting.
Make sure there aren’t any “puddles” or blobs of paint before you let the shirts sit to dry. They’ll dry a lot faster if the paint is spread out.
Leave the star tape or stickers on even while they’re doing the red. This way if they accidentally get red in the blue area, it still won’t get on the red stars.
Have fun!
****************************************************************
More 4th of July Fun
The t-shirts were just the beginning of our day, though!
We played with sidewalk chalk spray paint. You probably have everything you need to make it in your kitchen cabinets. The boys really enjoyed spraying the front porch.
(find the recipe here)
We ate lunch with some family, played with silly mustaches, and then made bubbles.
We hung out in the backyard…
…and played a DIY backyard ladder game.
It was pretty warm, so the boys played in the water.
We played “monkey in the middle” for a while.
Then we ate dinner and lit a few firecrackers in the backyard.
After dinner we drove a little ways to a spot where we could see all the fireworks in the Denver metro area. It was fun to try and figure out what area each display was coming from and nice that they weren’t too loud for the kids since we were a little further away from them.
It was a great day and I hope yours was just as fantastic!
For more 4th of July and summer fun ideas, visit my Patriotic Pinterest board.